Paris, France | AFP | The Iron Curtain was at first an ideological and then a physical separation of communist Eastern Europe from the West from the 1940s after World War II. – The name – The term “iron curtain” was popularised after it was used by former British prime …
Read More »Gentle giraffes threatened with ‘silent extinction’
Loisaba , Kenya | AFP | For most of his life as a Samburu warrior, Lesaiton Lengoloni thought nothing of hunting giraffes, the graceful giants so common a feature of the Kenyan plains where he roamed. “There was no particular pride in killing a giraffe, not like a lion… (But) a …
Read More »PSG and French football braced for Neymar exit
Paris, France | AFP | The saga of Neymar’s seemingly inevitable departure from Paris Saint-Germain is proving a long, drawn out affair bringing the curtain down on what will ultimately feel like a fleeting and failed experiment. Having arrived in France in 2017 hoping a world-record transfer to PSG would help …
Read More »‘Nobody thought it would go so fast’: Hungary ex-PM recalls fall of Iron Curtain
Tihany, Hungary | AFP | When Hungary’s former leader Miklos Nemeth first started poking a hole through the Iron Curtain in 1989, he had no idea how quickly his actions would contribute to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism in central and eastern Europe. In an …
Read More »Sudan to launch historic transition to civilian rule
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan’s military rulers and protest leaders on Saturday are scheduled to sign a landmark deal reached after a bloody uprising which is meant to pave the way for civilian rule. The ceremony will officialise a constitutional declaration inked on August 4 between the country’s Transitional Military …
Read More »As troops pull out, Ukraine frontline village fears for future
Stanytsya Luganska, Ukraine | AFP | While Ukrainian troops were stationed in her village, Anna felt safe despite living on the frontline of a war that has claimed thousands of lives over the last five years. But since they started to withdraw two months ago from Stanytsya Luganska, eastern Ukraine, she …
Read More »Nigeria’s divisive tradition of facial markings fades
Ibadan, Nigeria | AFP | When six-year-old Naziru Abdulwahab was abducted from northern Nigeria, his kidnapper transported him across the country and tried to sell him — but the potential buyer backed out. What saved the boy from the child-smuggling rings, police said, was the traditional facial scarrings on his cheeks …
Read More »Trump on summer vacation but not in summery mood
Berkeley Heights, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump is on summer vacation. Just don’t call it that. “It’s never a vacation,” he said before leaving the White House last Friday for the 10-day non-vacation at his luxury golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The former real estate dealer …
Read More »NASA descends on Icelandic lava field to prepare for Mars
The Lambahraun lava field, Iceland | AFP | To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job. With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun …
Read More »Secret Russia weapon project: gamechanger or PR stunt?
Paris, France | AFP | A deadly explosion at a Russian testing site has focused attention on President Vladimir Putin’s bid to build a nuclear-powered missile that the Kremlin hopes would give Moscow the edge in a new arms race. Western experts have linked the blast at the Nyonoksa test site …
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